The Punctum & The Phosphorus

We will discuss a selection of poems and other literary works (from the dead and the living), on the lookout for the ‘punctum’ and the ‘phosphorus’ —— the words, phrases, musical moves  and formal choices that make the work indelible.

The lenses and touchstones of our discussion will be the punctum vs. studium concept, formulated by Roland Barthes in , and the William Carlos Williams quote from     :Camera LucidaIn the American Grain

                               “It has been my wish to draw from every source one thing,

                                the strange phosphorus of the life. . .”

We will consider examples from writers like Gwendolyn Brooks, Frank Stanford, Jamaica Kincaid, Tillie Olson, Grace Paley, Les Murray, James Agee, Tyehimba Jess, Diane Seuss, Dana Levin. . .among others.

Atsuro Riley is the author of  (University of Chicago Press), which has been longlisted for PEN America’s Voelcker Poetry Award, named a “Best Book of 2021”,  listed among the year’…